business world today and not just among his kind.
Vincent dipped his spoon into his bowl, and found it empty. He'd finished off the ice cream. "This was good, Tiny. Thank you."
Standing, he carried the bowl to the sink and rinsed it before setting it in the dishwasher as he'd seen Jackie and Tiny do. Vincent headed for the kitchen door. "I have to go out."
"Out? By yourself?" Tiny scowled, obviously not pleased.
"Out," Vincent repeated firmly. "By myself."
"Do you think you should? If the saboteur has turned his attention to you... Maybe you should tell Jackie?
"Jackie said I was to go about my business. Unfortunately, I need to feed two or three times a day. So, I'm going about my business," he said simply.
Tiny hesitated, then nodded and asked, "What do I tell your aunt if she comes looking for you?"
Vincent paused with his hand on the door, then seemed to come to a decision. "I suppose I'd best go see if she wants to go with me. It would be rude to just abandon her on her first night here. I'll take her to a couple of clubs, show her the night life. We shouldn't be too late."
"I'll tell Jackie. Have fun," Tiny murmured as Vincent pushed out of the kitchen.
"It's four minutes after ten," Tiny announced. "Two minutes later than it was when you last checked the time."
Jackie forced her eyes away from the clock and scowled at her friend and co-worker. To look at him, one would have thought Tiny was completely absorbed in whatever he was doing on the portable computer on the kitchen table. Apparently, they would be wrong. At least, Tiny wasn't so absorbed he hadn't noticed the way her eyes kept wandering to the clock to check the time.
"He's fine," Tiny assured her, then stood and walked over to begin opening and closing cupboard doors. He added, "The saboteur hasn't struck out at him personally in any of the previous attacks."
"The saboteur was targeting his business then. Vincent has taken those targets away by closing his plays. He and his home are the only targets left to the saboteur," Jackie pointed out. "Besides, I'm not worried about him, I'm just... concerned." She frowned at the admission, then asked with irritation, "What are you looking for?"
"I'm checking to see what ingredients we have. There's a recipe I want to try."
Jackie rolled her eyes and began to tap her nails on the table, then realized what she was doing and folded her hand closed to end the telling action. After a moment, she stood abruptly. "I'm going to bed."
"It's just after ten," Tiny pointed out with surprise. Jackie never went to bed before eleven o'clock at night.
"It's just after ten here," she agreed. "But in New York梬here we got up this morning梚t's just after one."
"Oh, right." He nodded and turned back to close the cupboard door. "Well, I'm not tired yet, I'm going to bake some muffins for breakfast. It should only take an hour, then I'll probably go to bed too."
Jackie paused at the door and glanced back to find him donning the pink "I'm the cook!" apron Vincent had insisted on purchasing that day. The sight of him in the ridiculous thing made her irritation deepen.
"You don't have to cook, Tiny. It's your cover, not your job."
"I know," he responded calmly. "I like to cook. It relaxes me."
"Right," Jackie murmured and knew it was true. Tiny had taken a gourmet cooking course years ago and she'd often caught him leafing through women's magazines over the years, looking at recipes. She suspected Tiny was a very small woman in a large man's body, which was probably why they got along so well. Her father had always claimed she was a big, tough guy in a little woman's body.
"What a pair," Jackie muttered under her breath as she walked down the hall, then winced at how loud her voice sounded in the silent house. The security men had finished with the ground floor and left a little less than an hour ago. Allen Richmond had promised to have them back first thing in the morning to start work on the second floor. Jackie had been pleased with his assurance at the time, but now realized that might not be too convenient. Marguerite and Vincent were vampires. They slept during the day and wouldn't be up "first thing" for the men to work in their rooms.
Frowning over the problem, she walked upstairs and glanced along the hall,